Tessa Blackridge

thumb|Art by [[Ryuki]] Name: Tessa Blackridge

Gender: Female

Age: 17

Grade: 12

School: Aurora High School

Hobbies and Interests: Reading, Writing, Art

Appearance: Tessa is slightly overweight, standing 5'5" and weighing 160 lbs. She is generally rotund, with no real muscle or definition to her form, and she dresses simply, so as not to draw attention to herself. Most days she wears a simple hoodie and jeans, with a T-shirt related to art or webcomics in some form. On the day of the abduction, she was wearing a black hoodie with black jeans and a purple T-shirt emblazoned with a stylized, minimalistic frowning face in lighter purple.

Her face, like the rest of her, is round, with a button nose, close-set eyes, and a smattering of acne over pale skin. She has green eyes and dark brown hair that falls neatly to her shoulders.

Biography: Tessa was born in Seattle to Samuel and Clarissa Blackridge, themselves Seattle natives. The couple met at a party through mutual acquaintances, and hit it off immediately. The romance was an odd one from the start, with Clarissa a pre-med student and Samuel sitting on a highschool diploma and mostly working odd jobs to keep himself financially solvent. They loved each other regardless, and within a short time married and had their first, and only, child.

Though the couple was young and inexperienced, they wanted the very best for Tessa and worked hard to make sure she grew into the best person she could possibly be. One area in which they had a great deal of success was introducing her to books. More than anything else they did, Tessa would become absolutely captivated whenever her parents read to her. They gladly encouraged this interest and as a result, Tessa began reading shortly before entering preschool.

Tessa's early schooling was generally unremarkable. Other than her advanced skill in reading and writing, she didn't show herself to be significantly above or below average in any subject. It was, however, a powerful formative period for her. It was in the classrooms of her elementary school that she discovered a love for art projects, whether drawing or gluing or any other form they took. She also began to combine her interests, happily scribbling away at crude illustrations to go with the short stories she produced. While she was never particularly outgoing, her artistic bent and skill in reading provided social lubricant that laid the groundwork for most of her lasting friendships.

Despite Tessa's overall contentment, her parents were less happy. As the glamor wore off, their differences were brought increasingly to bear against each other. Clarissa was moving forward, mellowing out, and putting her focus into becoming a professional, successful nurse. Samuel for his part seemed unable to leave his old life behind him, spending increasing time with his own friends and falling gradually back into his old thrill-seeking habits. For a time everything seemed as if it might work out. They had always been an odd couple, but somehow they felt that everything would resolve itself in the end. Yet even as they hoped, they grew further and further apart, each drawing their own way in hopes of enticing the other after them. Tessa began to witness arguments between them as they disagreed more and more openly. Things finally came to a head when Samuel failed a company drug test and returned home late and in a drunken rage. Physical violence was avoided, but only barely, and Clarissa feared for the safety of herself and their daughter. She needed no further provocation, and filed for divorce.

The incident, which occurred just as she was entering middle school, came as a powerful blow to Tessa's psyche. Even after the initial shock wore off, she had the harsh realities of her parents' separation to contend with on top of the usual strains and stresses of adolescence. Feelings of uncertainty and blame occupied her thoughts, directed mostly at her father for what she saw as a betrayal of her mother, who she clung to tightly. She carried on with a preoccupied mind, putting less energy into her schoolwork and putting little effort to making new friends. In that time, reading, long an enjoyable diversion for her, became her escape. She delved into every book she could get her hands on, taking on long fantasy series to fill the time or picking up older classics for their deep plots.

In time, Tessa's emotional wounds began to heal, but her home life was still lacking. Her mother worked hard to support her, but her occupation demanded extremely long hours and left her little time to spend with her daughter. Tessa learned to be self-sufficient in her absence, but there was no real substitute for parenting. Left to her own devices, she avoided socializing much and began putting on weight from a combination of poor metabolism, lack of activity, and subpar diet from her own snacking and self-made meals. She started spending a lot of her time alone online, joining various communities and fandoms. Though it took some time, she eventually opened up somewhat and began sharing her artwork and short stories relevant to their shared interests. She found support through the feedback she received, and spent more and more of her time and effort into creating works of fan art and fan fiction, especially for the Homestuck community with its huge cast of characters and twisted plot with ample room speculation.

As she found confidence online, Tessa also came out of her shell in the real world. Highschool presented a new opportunity for her with the general social upheaval from mixing middle schools and classes more and more relevant to her interests. She enrolled in the bare minimum in most academic subjects, focusing instead on art and English classes. While still a fairly private person, she began seeking to expand her horizons socially again. She still clings mainly to old friends, but has returned to her elementary school roots somewhat with discussions about art or literature forging relationships with anyone who cares to give her the time. As her academic and social lives have improved, so has her private life. Her relationship with her mother holds strong as ever, and she has even accepted the issue and stopped cheating on her mother's plans to finally drop the weight she picked up during middle school. Her relations with her father are still sparse, but are trending slowly towards conciliatory. While both her parents have set examples impressing Tessa with a desire for higher education, she is still apprehensive and highly uncertain what that future might hold. In the meantime, she plans to attend a local community college to try and find some direction.

Advantages: Tessa is extremely unassuming, appearance-wise, and is not likely to be perceived as a threat. She is also generally friendly, and has had little cause to make any enemies before the abduction.

Disadvantages: Tessa is in terrible physical condition due to general lack of exercise and historically poor diet. She does not deal well with conflict and tends to withdraw rather than try to resolve issues.

Designated Number: Female student No. 075

---

Designated Weapon: Pepper Spray

Conclusion: Not a chance. Stick your head under the sand all you want, it won't stop the bullets from reaching you. - Penny Sullivan

'The above biography is as written by Rattlesnake. No alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: Rattlesnake

Kills: None

Killed by: Collar detonation due to tampering.

Collected Weapons: Pepper Spray (designated weapon)

Allies:

Enemies:

Mid-Game Evaluation:

Post-Game Evaluation:

Memorable Quotes:

Other/Trivia
Insert Fun Facts/Trivia here

Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain Tessa, in chronological order.

V5:
 * Borrowed Time
 * At the Price of Oblivion

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Tessa Blackridge. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''


 * That death. 0_0 - Espional
 * I feel partially responsible for Tessa's existence, as I may or may not have convinced Rattle to actually finish the profile and get her into V5 right before registrations closed. So it'd be only fair if I commented on that existence. It happened. - Un-Persona
 * Living (or dead) proof that death scenes can go meta and still somehow be awesome. -Ghost of Ravenstar
 * There are certain death scenes that are so unique in their execution (pun not intended), at least within this context, that they can never be repeated. Kudos to Rattle for doing it so right the first time. - Stark